Readers' letters

My dad kept a slogan on his desk at all times. It read, "If you don't do it right the first time, when are you going to find the time and the money to do it over?"

Many of us are very much aware of the safety cables that have been installed along many of our divided highways throughout the country. This cable system has done wonders by preventing head-on accidents and saving lives. I don't have an exact count of the number of serious accidents that have been avoided or the number of lives that have been saved by this system. However, I'm certain the number must be very large.

The reason I have delved into this subject is to inform the public that there is a right way and a wrong way that these systems should be installed. There are thousands of miles of these safety cables that have been installed throughout our highway network. I have chosen to write about our immediate area. South of Springfield, on U.S. 65 to Ozark and beyond the safety cables have been installed properly. However, west of Springfield, on I-44 toward Joplin, the cable system is not installed properly!

There is a valley between the westbound and the eastbound highway lanes. MoDOT installed these safety cables in the center of the valley, which is the lowest possible location for the safety cables. At this elevation, it is possible for vehicles to jump the safety cables into the oncoming lanes, as happened to the two football players from Missouri Southern.

As seen on U.S. 65, the system is at the highest possible location. Since MoDOT failed to do it right the first time, I strongly recommend that they "find the time and the money to do it over."

Editor's note: Dan Saiko, MoDOT project manager, responds:

Guard cable in freeway medians are installed according to the manufacturer specifications. Each installation is dependent on the guard cable brand, width of the median and the slopes off the shoulder. I-44 in southwest Missouri has two different types of cable systems installed at different times. One system runs between Route 360 (Mile Marker 69) and Joplin and the other runs between Route 360 and Lebanon. Both of these guard cable systems have been tested and have been shown to significantly reduce median crossovers.

Al Spencer

Republic

Now that the Affordable Care Act is collapsing, what do we hear from the proponents of the law? We hear "working together to fix the flaws" or "working together in a bipartisan manner to improve the website."

Now is a bad time to be thinking of bipartisanship or working together, when all the time the ACA was being conceived and shoved down our throats, the Democrats didn't want any bipartisanship or working together.

Every time the liberal Democrats concoct a monster and it fails, they run around yelling bipartisanship and working together.

Maybe it is time they learn to get the horse before the cart.

Carter D. Ward

Columbia

I must take exception to the recent letter to the editor by James Shuls of the Show-Me Institute ("School boards want high taxes," Nov. 17). In his letter, Shuls states that if he had been elected to a local board of education, he would have had to join the Missouri School Boards' Association. The decision to become a member of MSBA is made by local boards of education as a whole and is voluntary. No school board in the state is required to belong to MSBA or spend any money with the association.

He accurately states that MSBA was among many groups that strongly opposed House Bill 253, the harmful tax-cut bill that would have threatened the ability of the state to fund public schools and other essential services. The MSBA Delegate Assembly, made up of local school board members from throughout the state, has taken an unequivocal stand opposing legislation that would jeopardize state funding for our public schools.

By any measure, Missouri is a very low-tax state. A state tax cut that would reduce state revenue is a recipe for disaster and will damage our ability to provide our students with the education they need. MSBA makes no apology for supporting adequate state resources to fund our schools.

Ray Harris

Springfield

The Nov. 17 Opinion page ran a To the Point, "Dream Congress differs." The writer attempted to compare the women of the Democratic Party to the women of the Republican Party.

Let's make a comparison. Nancy Pelosi is the minority leader of the House of Representatives with a respected record. Maxine Waters advocated the divestment of South African apartheid regime. Barbara Boxer chairs two important committees and is a respected deputy whip. Dianne Feinstein chaired the Senate rules committee and chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence. Sheila Jackson Lee had a municipal judgeship, is active in measures to curb gang violence and is highly respected in the House. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the first Jewish congresswoman from Florida.

With these credentials, I find it rather unfair to call these women anything but stellar compared to the ranting and raving of Republican counterparts. I'm sure most of these women worked very hard for their positions and are more than willing to share their views in any debate or forum their counterparts suggest. I think we know who would win that debate.

John Craig

Springfield

John Lilly is on the right track ("Medical care not a right, but welfare is theft," Oct. 10). As he suggested, people often abuse the system by having multiple pregnancies. I think it is important to look at the original purpose of Medicaid - a safety net for folks who, for one reason or another, have fallen on hard times.

Lilly did not say how to stop or slow down the Medicaid birth rate. Here is a solution. If you are pregnant or are already on Medicaid and become pregnant, you should agree to have a form of birth control that is reversible, at the time of delivery. The person donating the sperm should agree to have a reversible vasectomy. If the parties do not agree, they would not be eligible for Medicaid or any other form of government assistance and the cost of the delivery would not be covered.

If the parents agree to have the procedure and later become financially capable of raising a child, then Medicaid will pay to have the procedures reversed. This would give people a better chance of getting out of the Medicaid system. I think people should have the right to have as many children as they can afford to care for, but not at the expense of the taxpayers.

In a story in the News-Leader Oct. 17, I read of the accomplishments of a single mother working her way through college with the goal of working out of poverty ("Single mom to share perspective on poverty tonight"). I commend this woman. This is what Medicaid and other benefit programs were meant to address: help to those who are willing to help themselves.

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Readers' letters

My dad kept a slogan on his desk at all times. It read, 'If you don't do it right the first time, when are you going to find the time and the money to do it over?'